


Back in Black

by holbytlanna



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Badass Jack Dalton, Fix-It, Gen, Jack's Triumphant Return, Jill is a good friend, Jill survived because fuck canon, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28739316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holbytlanna/pseuds/holbytlanna
Summary: Jill remembered fondly (though not without a twinge of irritation) the time Jack Dalton called her up and asked her to come to his apartment to help him with something. That ‘something’ had turned out to be much more than the small favour she had expected. Dislocating his shoulder so that he could loop her into breaking into Matty’s house was a favour that could have lost her her job. Good times....“You should call them. They’ll all be glad to hear from you, Jack, it’s been too long.”“I’ll talk to them soon. But listen, Jill,” oh it was getting real if he was using her name. “I need a favour…”
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton & Jill Morgan (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton & Matilda "Matty" Webber (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016) & Riley Davis, Wilt Bozer & Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 40





	Back in Black

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a long, long time, and I think now is an appropriate time to post it. 
> 
> This fic was heavily inspired AC/DC's Back in Black (which I can't hear now without thinking of this plot), and by macgyvergifs’ gifset of Jack in TAC gear
> 
> https://macgyvergifs.tumblr.com/post/627745806919811072/jack-dalton-tac-gear-211-requested-by

Jill remembered fondly (though not without a twinge of irritation) the time Jack Dalton called her up and asked her to come to his apartment to help him with something. That ‘something’ had turned out to be much more than the small favour she had expected. Dislocating his shoulder so that he could loop her into breaking into Matty’s house was a favour that could have lost her her job. Good times.

She still wasn’t entirely sure how he roped her into all of it. The man didn’t even get her name right, most of the time. Why would she risk her career, and possibly (knowing Matilda Webber’s reputation as Matty the Hun) her life, for Jack’s crazy scheme?

Because he had done a bit of bribery, a bit of blackmail, and quite a bit of groveling. Because he had said it wasn’t just about himself being sketchy and weird, that Matty was keeping secrets about MacGyver from all of them, including MacGyver himself. 

Because she trusted Jack to want the best for MacGyver. Because she trusted that he wouldn’t seriously ask for so huge a favour without a real, good reason. And, at the bottom line, because she trusted Jack Dalton.

When Jill woke up in a hospital, months after her trust in Jack had indirectly led to MacGyver’s quitting, it took a long time before anyone would tell her what happened. She remembered Murdoc, she remembered pain, she remembered metal screeching and Mac’s voice on the phone and then nothing.

She wasn’t in Phoenix medical. She knew that much. She didn’t recognize any of the nurses or doctors working on her broken leg and fractured collarbone. They knew her first name, but they didn’t know how she had sustained her injuries. They just thought it was a car crash, a hit-and-run that had nearly killed an innocent woman. Jill knew there had been a bullet wound to her side, near her hip, but the doctors seemed to think it was steel from the crash having impaled her. And they called her “Miss Monroe,” if they didn’t use her first name.

Jill was smart. She knew that if her injuries and name were being covered up, there was a good reason for it. She trusted Director Webber. 

That trust paid off when an envelope was delivered to her. In Matty’s neat handwriting, it was simply addressed “Jill Monroe.” Inside was a short letter, also in Matty’s writing.

_Jill,_

_I know you’re frustrated with the lack of answers. You always are, it’s what made you such an excellent analyst. Here are your answers._

_You’re in a hospital in northern Oregon. It’s safe. I’ve made sure of it. You have been admitted under the name “Jill Monroe,” and that’s the name you’re going to use for a while. Officially, Jill Morgan is dead. You’re under Phoenix’s witness protection, meaning you have a new identity._

_Jill Monroe’s car was hit by a drunk driver, and she suffered a broken leg, a shrapnel wound in her hip, and a fractured collarbone. The shrapnel was removed on scene, and she was airlifted to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, Oregon._

_You_ _were found shortly after your car crashed. The bullet in your hip was removed on scene, and you were stabilised for transport out of the state, where you would be safe._

_Once you’re released from the hospital, there’s an apartment in Jill Monroe’s name in the city. All your things have been moved there, and I have agents watching it until you arrive. You’re going to lie low there until you’re healed fully, and maybe longer. Things are still pretty heated here while MacGyver and his team are hunting down Murdoc._

_I’ll be monitoring your progress, and keeping in touch (confidentially, of course). My best well wishes for your recovery, Jill._

_-MW_

That letter did indeed answer many of Jill’s questions. She began to mentally prepare herself for life as Jill Monroe.

It wasn’t a bad life. Quiet, uneventful. She got regular updates from Matty, who had every intention of letting her come back to LA and to the Phoenix as soon as everything quieted down, provided she still wanted to. And Jill did; she had every intention of returning. She loved her job, even after her brush with death. She helped to save the world. Some people called her an idealist for that view, and maybe she was. But that’s what her job boiled down to. The Phoenix Foundation faced global threats and brought them down. Jill had been a part of that, albeit behind the scenes most of the time, and she loved it despite the danger. 

When she returned, everything was different. The job was the same, but the team she loved had changed so much. There was a bitterness, a dark sort of melancholy, hanging over everything.

The letter from Matty detailing Jack Dalton’s reassignment to the Kovacs mission had been brief and detached. A less-experienced analyst wouldn’t have been able to detect the emotion behind the words. But Jill had recognized in Matty’s letter frustration, a bit of anger, sorrow. There had been some pride. Dalton had been chosen to lead the hunt, out of every operative in the States, in the world. But with that pride in her agent’s abilities had come the bitterness of his departure. And if Matty had taken it badly, Jill could only imagine how the others were doing.

Not very well, as it turned out. 

Everyone seemed edgier. They still worked as a team, but it didn’t feel like it. The once-seamless family had been broken, and put together all wrong. The new members, Agent Nguyen and Russ Taylor, fit in clunkily. They were good people (overlooking shady pasts), and good at their jobs. Jill could respect that. She even liked them as people, on the few occasions she interacted with them. But the team she knew, loved and trusted was gone. What was left was a pale, washed out version. Or maybe a darker version. Like if their lives were filmed, someone had played with the exposure too much, making it darker and duller. 

It was no secret that MacGyver drank a bit more than he should, and didn’t sleep as much as he ought. It was no surprise that Riley’s relationship failed and that she seemed to spiral afterward with no one to really talk to about it. It didn’t shock Jill when she saw cracks in the happy-go-lucky mask Bozer tried to keep on all the time. And she suspected that Matty slept at her desk, buried in work, more often than not, because she was always in the building later and earlier than anyone else. 

And they didn’t talk to each other. They were friendly, but they didn’t turn to one another anymore. The implicit trust was fizzling out. 

And Jill knew exactly why.

Jack Dalton brought the team together. He was a father to Mac and Riley, a brother to Bozer, a friend (and maybe even a co-parent of sorts) to Matty. They all had lost an important part of themselves, and no one else could fill those roles the same way. Nguyen and Taylor were square pegs trying to fit into a Jack-shaped hole. 

Jill knew there was no way on earth she could fill that space, and nor did she want to even try. She missed Jack too. She missed the way he could make any of them laugh (it had been a long time since she’d heard a real laugh out of any of them), she missed how happy they all were together (seeing the team happy together was become a rare occurrence), and most of all, she missed the absolute, unfailing trust (because not one of them trusted the others, not the way they used to, with the possible exception of Riley “You’re Never Alone” Davis and Angus “You Neither” MacGyver).

No, she could never replace Jack in any of their lives, but she did her best to help. To be there for them. She chatted with Bozer in the lab, giving him space to drop his smile because _it’s just her, just Jill_ , and he can be himself around her. She grabbed coffee with Riley sometimes, talking about computers and boys and tv shows and what normal almost-thirty-somethings should talk about. Neither of them were normal, but she knew Riley liked to act like it sometimes. Jill found herself bringing food to the labs late at night, when Mac forgot to eat. He buried himself in work, trying to drown out his thoughts. She never asked him to talk, never asked anything of him. Just ate with him quietly and made sure he knew by her actions that she was there for him. And for Matty, Jill did everything she could. She worked as diligently as possible, she was everything Matty asked her to be. She hoped she took at least some of the workload off her boss’s strong but tired shoulders, even if she couldn’t do much to help Matty on a more personal level. 

They got by. They saved the world. They survived.

After years of this, Jill unlocked her apartment — the one she had gotten when she returned to LA — and all but fell down onto her couch. She didn’t feel like cooking, or like much of anything, really. Her perky little apartment didn’t do much to help her despondency. It hadn’t been a bad day, not by any means. Just a long one. Mac and Desi had broken up (for what, the third time now? The fourth?) and it seemed to Jill like this time was the last time. They had been civil afterward, even friendly. That had helped to make the day go a bit smoother. If they had been at each other’s throats, even Jill’s patience would have worn thin.

No, the day was fine. Jill was just tired. She needed some food, and maybe a shower, and sleep. And then back to work tomorrow. 

She didn’t used to really think of her job as ‘work’ before.

And that was when it happened. Her phone vibrated.

Jill checked the caller ID, and nearly dropped her phone. A caller she had not expected, completely out of the blue. A number she had thought would remain buried deep within her contacts forever.

Jack Dalton.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she answered. “Jack?”

His voice was a little rougher than she remembered, but then, it had been a few years since she’d heard it. “Hiya, Janet.” She could hear the smile in his words. She could practically see it, and she knew he was just messing with her this time.

“Jack. It’s… It’s good to hear from you. How are you doing?” Now that she was talking to him, she had no idea what to say. How does she tell him that his family’s gone and broken itself and not even MacGyver, with all the duct tape in the world, could patch them together? How does she tell him they all need him back desperately? And “Why are you calling me? Is Mac not answering his phone again?”

“I’m doing alright now. I haven’t called anyone else, just you.” He was tired, Jill could tell by his voice.

“Well you should call them. They’ll all be glad to hear from you, Jack, it’s been too long.”

“I’ll talk to them soon. But listen, Jill,” oh it was getting real if he was using her name. “I need a favour…”

—————

Another day, another mission. That seemed to be the way MacGyver’s life was going, these days. He woke up, he went to work, he got shot at and saved the world, he went home to a dark and empty house. Rinse and repeat. Some nights (more nights than he was proud of or would admit), he drank himself to sleep. 

Jack had always told him not to drink alone. Well, it was Jack’s fault he was alone in the first place. 

Mac walked into the War Room, making sure his shirt was tucked in. He had left the house in a hurry, having overslept and then put in the bare minimum effort to make himself look his usual business-casual self. A quick glance at his reflection in the glass windows told him he looked fine. Tired. But passable.

Riley was already inside, sitting on the arm of one of the chairs. Her computer was open, but she wasn’t really looking at it.

“Hey,” Mac said softly. She startled, but then looked up at him with a tired smile. 

“Hey Mac. Where’s Matty?”

That was odd. Matty should have been there, but as Mac looked around, he didn’t see any sign of her. Not in the War Room, not out the clear glass windows. 

“Weird that she calls us in and then isn’t here. Where’s everyone else?” Riley asked, right as Bozer ran in with a “Sorry I’m late, Matty, I-”

All three of them were baffled by the fact that Matty wasn’t there to debrief them. They compared messages. From Matty to each of them, individually, read “War Room, 9:30.” Simple, blunt. A direct order. Perfectly in character for their boss-lady.

Mac, Riley and Bozer also seemed like the only ones to have received the summons. Desi was rarely late, and never by fifteen minutes. And Russ wouldn’t miss out on a mission.

In short, they were all very confused. And none more than Matty, judging by her face when she walked into the War Room herself.

“What are you all doing here? There’s no mission today, not that I’ve been made aware of.”

The four of them — _the original team, almost,_ Mac thought — barely had a few seconds to puzzle over their shared confusion, when suddenly, over a hidden speaker, music began to play. Loudly. Very, VERY loudly. 

“What the hell?” Matty asked aloud, trying to access the speakers on her tablet, and evidently failing.

Mac had looked up, eyes flashing. He would recognize that opening riff anywhere. It filled the whole room, the raw-sounding electric guitar and wailing vocals.

_Back in black, I hit the sack_

_I've been too long, I'm glad to be back_

_Yes, I'm let loose from the noose_

_That's kept me hanging about_

_I've been looking at the sky 'cause it's gettin' me high_

_Forget the hearse 'cause I never die_

_I got nine lives, cat's eyes_

_Abusin' every one of them and running wild_

_'Cause I'm back_

Every member of the team knew exactly what this meant, but they hardly dared to hope. The look in Matty’s eyes said that if this was a prank, whoever was behind it would disappear permanently. Only one man would hack into Phoenix's speakers (or have someone else do it, as was more likely) and blast AC/DC to make a dramatic entrance. 

_Please,_ Mac found himself begging the universe, begging Jack. And as “Ba-a-a-a-ack” seemed to shake the room, all eyes turned to the hallway, desperate. 

And there he was. 

In full black tactical gear, with more grey in his beard than any of them remembered and rocking his fauxhawk, was Jack. He seemed to stride in slow-motion up the hallway. Mac was frozen in place. 

Jack reached the door to the War Room just as the final “Back in black, yes I’m back in black” faded away. Everyone was staring, not a single one of them was able to speak. 

Despite his dramatic, cocky entrance, there were tears in Jack’s eyes as he smirked. “I told you I’d come back.”

Mac felt as if the floor had fallen out from under him, completely stricken. But looking at Jack’s smile again, hearing his voice after years (after _years_ ), suddenly it was as if all the emotions he had tried to drown in work and alcohol and a doomed relationship all came to a head. He stepped forward, and that one step broke the tableau of stillness and quiet. He ran the last few steps, all but slamming into Jack and crushing him into a hug. It didn’t matter to Mac that their tears were staining both his shirt and Jack’s. It didn’t matter that a TAC vest was not a comfortable thing to hug, or that the gun in Jack’s chest holster bit into him. It didn’t matter that he was openly crying in front of his team and in full view of the Phoenix Foundation.

The only thing that mattered was Jack. And Jack was there, he was real. His arms were strong around Mac’s back in a real hug, not a bro-backslapping-hug. Jack gripped the back of Mac’s head gently but fiercely, holding Mac to himself and reminding Mac of the way he had done just this, so, so long ago after Mac had faked his death and a very drugged Jack had bought it. 

“I’m here, man, I’m back. For good. I’m here to stay,” he murmured into Mac’s hair. Jack looked up, locking teary eyes with each of his crying, smiling family. “I’m home.”

—————

Jill watched the hug turn into a group hug as each member of the team took turns to reassure themselves that Jack was really back with them. She smiled to see them smile through their tears, and would have been lying if she tried to say she wasn’t crying herself. 

Organising this reunion had taken a whole night of planning on her part, of hacking into Matty’s phone and the Phoenix sound system and doors. It had all been worth it.

She pressed on the War Room windows, fogging the glass. The whole Phoenix Foundation would be glad to know that Jack Dalton had returned, but for now, this moment was for family.

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone else know that the lead guitarist of AC/DC's name is Angus? Because I learned that today.


End file.
